DR Congo's army took control of the center of Kibumba on Friday after fighting broke out early in the morning with M23 rebels. The area had been completely occupied by the rebels before the fighting began in the territory of Nyiragongo, in North Kivu province.

U.S. authorities announced on Thursday that they have sanctioned Rwanda over the recruitment of child soldiers by the M23 rebels operating in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The United Nations and rights groups have accused Kigali of supporting the rebels.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the attacks being carried out by rebels in Eastern Congo against civilians "appalling". African heads of state met at the United Nations to discuss the conflict, which the United States says Rwanda is fueling by backing those rebels.

DR Congo’s government said on Friday it will protect its population against any military attack by the Rwandan army on its territory. Government spokesman and minister of information Lambert Mende noted that “Rwandan authorities have increasingly threatened in recent days to go to war against the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The U.N. said on Thursday that the M23 rebels have been firing shells into Rwandan territory, disputing claims by the Rwandan foreign minister, Louise Mushikiwabo, that DR Congo's army was to blame. “Firing incidents into Rwandan territory originated from M23 positions between 22 and 29 August,” U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said.

M23 rebels and their allies in Rwanda deliberately shelled civilians neighborhoods in Goma on Thursday, Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende said on Friday during a press conference in Kinshasa. One woman and her three children were killed when mortar shells hit civilian neighborhoods in the eastern Congo city.

A 48-hour ultimatum given by the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo to armed groups around Goma and Sake to disarm or be disarmed expired on Thursday. The spokesman for the UN mission said the security zone will be enforced to secure more than one million people, including displaced people living in the area.

Four Rwandans have told the BBC the army forcibly recruited them to fight for the M23 rebel group in neighbouring eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The four said they were seeking asylum in Uganda after fleeing the fighting.

DR Congo’s government said on Friday it has sent three international arrest warrants to Rwanda against former M23 rebel leader Jean-Marie Runiga and commanders Baudouin Ngaruye, Eric Badege and Innocent Zimurinda.